dense dough

hi, Peter Reinhart's starter turns thick in 5 days with thick strands of gluten although i follow his instructions. today i attempted "jason's ciabatta" which starts with 500g flour and 425g water + salt + yeast. this mixture also becomes thick and gooey but it's supposed to be a wet dough. my flour is stone ground bread flour with max 14% water content. do you think it's absorbing too much liquid and can i add as much liquid as i want to make batter consistency? tks